Chapter 5
Lexi
I wake up sometime before dawn, my pillow missing and a big arm latched around my waist. I sit up in bed and realize Knox has both his pillow and mine, along with all the blankets. Damn. The man’s a thief. I bite back my chuckle of amusement so he can keep sleeping, and slide out of bed. My pussy is pleasantly sore from the pounding it got last night, and I swear that if I crawled back into that bed and woke him up, I’d be leaving his bedroom bowlegged and happy.
Unfortunately, I can’t.
The sex was amazing, but I’m already feeling a pang of regret that I chose to sleep with Knox—a guy I barely know—instead of confronting Keith. I move toward the window in the bedroom and glance outside. It’s still dark out. I should probably call an Uber and have them come get me and take me back to my car. That would make the most sense.
Staying here and waiting for Knox to wake up just means that there’ll be an awkward conversation and he’ll feel obligated to give me a ride back to the hotel. I’m not a fan of forced conversations, so I’d rather not. I tiptoe over to my discarded leggings and hitch them up my legs, then slip on my dress. All the while, Knox sleeps on, completely oblivious to the fact that I’m awake.
It’s a shame I have to nail and bail, because he’s so cute in the early-morning sunlight. The shaggy beard hugging his jaw is just begging for me to run my fingers through it, and there’s a floppy lock of dark hair curling over his tanned forehead. From my vantage point, I can see that delicious chest hair arrowing down to where the blankets hide his very impressive cock. Sigh. He’s going to be a guy that’s difficult to forget.
But reality’s calling me. I need to go back home, contact my yoga clients that I bailed on for the last few days. See how my advertising is doing and what my next month’s lesson plan will look like. Figure out how to pay the rent on my small studio and which credit cards still have room on them. I slide my shoes onto my feet and tiptoe out of his bedroom.
More than anything, I need to make sure Keith didn’t do something insane like take a baseball bat to my car while I left it unattended all night.
I grab my bag and look for a piece of paper somewhere in his trailer to leave a note, but I can’t find one. I dig in my purse and find a tampon. Well, that’ll have to do. I peel it and flatten the wrapper, then write on the pale underside.
Had a grt time. Txt u l8r—LEXI
As love notes go, it sucks. But I don’t have a lot of room to write and I’m not really sure what to say anyhow. I put it under a beer can on the coffee table and, then grab my purse and tiptoe out of his trailer before calling Uber to come and pick me up.
The unplanned Uber drive back to the hotel takes a large chunk out of my credit card, but it’s worth it when we circle the parking lot at the hotel and Keith’s truck is gone. Thank god. I breathe a sigh of relief, thank the driver, and then get out of the car and pull my keys out of my purse.
I should have known it was too good to be true. The moment I approach my car, I hear a door slam across the parking lot. I look over . . . and that fucking truck’s still there. It’s been moved.
Well, shit.
I climb into my car and pretend like I don’t see him there, starting the engine. Before I can back out, though, Keith walks behind my vehicle and puts his hands on his hips, blocking me and waiting. I can’t roll forward, because there’s a hedge directly in front of my car.
“Fuck fuck fuck,” I mutter. I consider for a moment, then roll down my window ever so slightly and try to act like all of this is no big deal. “You might want to move.”
Keith immediately moves to my driver’s-side window and puts his hand on the glass and manually pushes so hard that my hand crank for the glass goes around in a slow circle. Shit. I ignore the dread pooling in my stomach and stare up at him with my best dead-eyed expression.
“Where ya been, Lexi? I was worried about you.”
“Good for you.”
He leans in my window, six feet of solid ex-military crazy, and eyes me like I’m a problem. “Went by your dance studio—”
I roll my eyes. “It’s yoga.”
“—and it was closed. Your neighbor at the diner said you’d been closed for two or three days, and I was worried there was a problem. Didn’t see your car in the parking lot at the apartments, so I called some of my buddies at the police station and I was able to track your car here.”
A chill goes down my spine. Jesus Christ. “You shouldn’t have,” I say flatly. “I mean it.”
“I was worried about my girl.”
“I’m not your girl.”
He eyes my messy hair and the fact that I have no makeup on. “You aren’t someone else’s girl, are you? Because I don’t think I’d like that.”
“I don’t remember asking for your permission,” I tell him, but there’s a sick clench in my gut, like there always is when Keith’s around. He doesn’t know how to back the hell off.
“Where ya been, Lexi?” He says again with menace edging his tone.
I try to roll up the window and ignore him, but he keeps his big asshole hands planted on it, and I can’t budge the damn thing. “I’m staying at the hotel with a friend, jerkwad. Let go of my car.”
“You are?”
“Yes.”
“Now, that’s funny, because I told the lady up front that I was with the authorities and looking for a missing friend, and she didn’t have you checked in as a visitor.”
Authorities? This fucking asshole. He’s a firefighter, not a cop. Even if he was, it didn’t give him the right to stalk me like this. “I’m staying with a friend.”
“Natalie? The fat one? Because I’m pretty sure she went back to her room with some guy last night and I didn’t see you with them.” He tilts his head, gazing down at me. “So you want to tell me the truth? You know I don’t like it when you lie.”
“And here I am without a shit to give if you like it or not. My, this is quite the tragic situation.” I reach into my handbag to grab my phone.
He grabs my purse and hauls it out of my grip before I can do anything and flings it across the parking lot. Tampons and lipstick scatter on the pavement, and I can hear the angry crack of my phone as it smacks the ground. Shit. I remain frozen in my car, hardly daring to breathe. One wrong move and Keith is going to go from asshole to murderer and I won’t be able to do anything. He’s bigger than I am and far more bloodthirsty. I’m all bravado.
I clench my hands on the steering wheel to keep them from trembling visibly. “That was shitty of you” is all I say, and I’m proud of how brave I sound even if I’m screaming with fear on the inside.
“I don’t like these games, Lexi.” Keith’s voice gets low and dangerous.
“I’m not fond of them myself, Keith,” I spit back at him. “If you must know where I was, allow me to educate you.” I keep the words cutting and brief, my lip curling. “I knew Natalie was going to get laid, so I went to a bookstore and read books for free until they closed. Then I went to a Denny’s and had coffee until four in the morning, and I went to the local Y as soon as they opened and participated in some hot yoga. Are you fucking happy? I stayed out all night with no sleep because I’m trying to be a good friend.”
And I give him my fiercest glare, hoping that he buys the ridiculous lie.
He gazes down at me for a long moment, and I’m half terrified he’s going to reach into my car and grab me by the throat. But after a time, he nods slowly. “Okay then. That was all you had to say.”
“Can I go now?” I bite out, and put one hand on the manual car window lever again. “I’m fucking tired, and it’s a long drive back to Luka.”
Keith releases the window and takes a step back, still watching me with those creepy eyes, like he’s waiting to see if I’ll crumble. I just give him my most aloof stare, calmly roll the window up, back out of the parking lot, and turn onto the road.
It’s not until I get onto the highway that I check my rearview mirror. No topaz truck behind me. Good. My trembling overtakes my body and I can’t stop shaking.
Oh god. Oh god. Keith’s crazier than ever. Not only is he stalking me, but he’s getting the law involved. I don’t doubt for a moment that his buddies at the police station helped him find my car. How, I don’t know. When I get out, I’m going to check the underside of my vehicle for a tracking device of some kind. Which sounds completely crazy, but Keith is completely crazy. I swipe at the terrified tears that slide down my face, and my happy night of sex with Knox is completely forgotten. It’s a good thing I snuck out, because if Keith saw me with Knox, I don’t know what he’d have done.
I can’t stop shaking. Or crying. I want to pull over to the nearest fast food place and just bawl like a baby, but I’m terrified Keith is behind me and he’ll stop and want to know why I’m upset. I have to keep going. I reach over in my car seat, looking for my phone, and freeze.
My purse—and all its contents—are still scattered in the parking lot of the hotel. Shit. I don’t have my credit cards, my wallet, my phone . . . nothing.
No cash. No ID.
No birth control.
Motherfucker. I consider turning around and going back to the hotel to gather up my things. But that means I’ll have to see Keith again. I’ll have to have another conversation with him. I’ll have to get out of the safety of my car.
Fuck that. I can get a new phone. I can cancel my credit cards.
I just never want to be that close to an angry Keith ever again.
I’ll figure something else out.